


Death Squadron: Choices

by Herald_of_Dreams



Series: Star Wars Tales [21]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Drama, Family, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-03
Updated: 2013-06-03
Packaged: 2017-12-13 19:40:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/828083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Herald_of_Dreams/pseuds/Herald_of_Dreams
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written in 2006. Luke Skywalker leaves Tatooine anyway and joins the Flight Academy. A few years later he's eligible for promotion as a new member of Death Squadron, the highly elite fighter squad led by none other than Lord Vader, his father.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Death Squadron: Choices

**Around ANH:**

A young man sat nervously on a shuttle that was bringing him to Lord Vader’s flagship the _Executor,_ hoping that he could pass the test and become part of the elite, part of Death Squadron.

When he’d left his aunt and uncle, he’d shouted to his uncle, “You wait and see, I’ll become one of the Imperial elite!” And now he was close to achieving that goal. And meeting an idol of his, Black Three or ‘Targeter,’ one of Lord Vader’s wingmen.

When they landed on the huge ship, he got out and stood still, while the others looked around in awe. He knew what was expected of a pilot and he remained still, resisting the urge to look around at the TIE fighters and Lord Vader’s TIE Advanced x1.

*

Lord Vader watched the young men look around at the docking bay and one of them stood out. He stood still, hands behind his back and feet together, the perfect example of a highly disciplined youth.

He looked around for Black Three, his favorite wingman and a friend of his from Old Republic times and asked, “Would you like to test these young men, Derak?”

“I wouldn’t mind. These young men look like the type that is easily distracted. I can break that quickly,” the older pilot said to his friend.

“Yes you can,” Vader muttered with a laugh as Derak walked into the sim room. Vader switched a few buttons and said, “Can you hear me?”

“Loud and clear.”

“Good. It seems that a few of those young men know who you are,” Vader noted.

“Yes they do.”

Black Three directed his attention to the young pilots and said to them, “You are the best of best on the other ships. This is for the very best, the elite. If you pass this test then you can truly say that you are an elite pilot. For those of you who do not recognize or know me, I am Black Three. If any of you ever fly with Black One, take his orders without question, because Black One is Lord Vader. He often fights with us and you will be expected to do as he says.” 

Black Three looked at the young man who had been silent the entire time and asked, “What is your name and what ship are you coming from?”

“Luke, sir. I am coming from the _Avenger._ My companions are also from there and their names are Biggs Darklighter and Wedge Antilles.”

Black Three nodded. He liked the young man more and more, not only for his manners but the intensity that surrounded him. He knew without asking that he was probably a very disciplined person, one that held more knowledge than expected for his age.

“Luke, go to sim five. Biggs, go to simulator four. Simulator six is for Wedge. Dayaar, simulator seven. The rest of you can go back to your regular ships. You are not what the Empire needs in its elite.”

The disappointed pilots dispersed and Luke, Biggs, Wedge and Dayaar went to the simulators appointed to them, ecstatic. 

*

Luke jumped into his simulator, happy to have made it past Black Three’s initial cut. He knew that it would be decided now on fighter skills and he was ready for anything. 

He put on the helmet and turned on his communicator, studying the controls. Stunned, he realized what ship Black Three had put him in and he grinned grimly. _If you’re game I am._

Black Three said to them; “Tell me what type of ship you’re in if you know it.”

Biggs said, “Z-95 Headhunter.”

“Regular TIE fighter,” Dayaar droned.

“X-wing fighter,” Wedge said with a laugh.

“Luke?”

Luke cleared his throat and said, “TIE Advanced x1.”

Lord Vader looked at Black Three and he said to the pilots, “You’re all correct. Luke, you’re the one that needs to watch it. The x1 is not called a TIE Advanced for nothing.”

“Yes sir.”

“All right. Here is your simulation. You all have the same one for the first part.”

He pressed the button and Wedge yelped, “It’s the Imperial Battle Fleet! Look, there’s a Super Star Destroyer!”

Luke said calmly, “Calm down Wedge. If you freak out then they’ll know that you can’t be relied on. Just be quiet and fly like usual.”

 *

Lord Vader watched the scores and deaths rack up and he noticed that one had not died yet. It was the young man Luke. He was flying at an extreme speed and had not yet been killed.

Black Three laughed when he saw that there was only one left a few minutes later, because the one left was Luke and he’d taken out the entire Battle Fleet with only two deaths.

He jumped into a sim machine and had it take him to where Luke was. The others were still in theirs, watching Luke fly.

“Hey Luke! You have one of Death Squadron on your tail. He’s the only one left.”

Luke looked at the corner of his screen and noticed that Wedge was right. A member of Death Squadron was flying toward him in the distinctive pure black TIE fighter and Luke decided that he’d try to take him out. Unfortunately that was what the other pilot was going to do to Luke.

Several dizzy minutes later, his sim blacked out and Black Three told them, “Get out of your simulators.”

Luke got out, dazed. He could barely remember that final fight and could only remember that he had laughed aloud at the speed that he was going.

Wedge stared at him and said, “You beat Black Three. I heard him laughing about it. He said that it was an amazing feat if you could get him and you did.”

“What?”

Luke was stunned. He’d beaten Black Three, one of the very best pilots in the entire Empire.

“Look,” Wedge whispered in awe.

Black Three was walking toward them, accompanied by none other than Lord Vader himself. The Dark Lord of the Sith was an imposing sight, extremely tall and covered from head to foot in black armor. His lightsaber hung from his belt and the hiss of the respirator was deafening in the silence.

“Congratulations to all of you for making it this far. But as you know, only one of you will be joining Death Squadron. The accepted person must understand this and that is that as a part of Death Squadron, you are expected to perform your very best each and every time. You will follow Imperial rules to the letter and you will _not_ disobey a direct order from either Lord Vader or myself. With that said,” he smiled at the tension he’d caused, “I’d like to announce that the newest pilot in Death Squadron, with the call name Black Five, will be Luke.”

Luke froze. He could not believe that Black Three had just said that he was a part of Death Squadron. He’d worked so hard to get to this point that when he finally achieved it, he couldn’t believe it.

He wanted to jump for joy, or yell his delight to the stars but he settled for giving a delighted grin and a bow from neck up to Lord Vader and Black Three.

“Come with us.”

Luke stepped away from his friends and walked with Lord Vader and Black Three out of the sim room, amazed and a little light headed.

*

Black Three smiled at Luke and asked, “How long have you been piloting?”

“I have no exact time sir. I’ve been a pilot since I was little and I don’t remember exactly how old I was.”

“Did you ever think you’d make it to Death Squadron?”

“No,” Luke whispered. “It’s been my dream and highest goal, but I never thought I’d actually get here.”

Black Three wondered how dedicated he had to be and walked into a huge docking bay. Sleek black TIEs rested in wait for their pilots, who were hanging out and talking in a half circle facing their ships.

“They are the rest of Death Squadron,” Black Three said to Luke. “Would you like to meet them?”

“I should, shouldn’t I? After all, it’s a good thing to know who you’re fighting with.”

Black Three nodded and turned to Lord Vader. “Are you coming with us sir?”

“Yes.”

One of the black and silver clothed pilots walked toward them and Black Three told Luke, “That is Black Two, also known as Ace. He is Lord Vader’s other wingman. He flies on the left side and I fly on the right.”

“Hey Targeter! I was wondering if you were going to join us! Hello Lord Vader, good to see you again. Who is the young man with you?”

“Hello Ace. This is Luke, recently appointed Black Five. Luke, this is Black Two.”

“Pleasure to meet you sir,” Luke said to Ace.

“Just call me Ace kid. Everyone else does. Nice to see new faces join us. Come with me and Targeter and we’ll introduce you to the rest of the pilots.”

And so Luke met the rest of Death Squadron. Freckle-faced Four, perky Six, stern Seven, Eight with his one eye and Nine who was Four’s brother.

“Glad you’re with us Luke,” Six said with a smirk.

“We’re all talkers. I think the reason why Lord Vader imposes comlink silence is because he doesn’t want to listen to us chatter,” Four said with a grin, making Lord Vader give a slight snicker of laughter.

“Get used to the sound of him laughing, cause we tend to get him chuckling. We’re a laughable bunch on the ground but in the sky we’re fighters. You’ll settle in easily with us,” Eight said with a snort of laughter.

Luke started laughing and Four smiled and said, “That’s better. You were tense when you came over here and now you sound like one of us. Sit down. This seat’s for you.”

Luke sat down, disbelieving at how easy it was to settle in with these guys. They acted like his friends’ back home, easily laughing and enjoying random jokes and comments.

“You leaving so soon, Lord Vader?” Ace hollered after the Dark Lord as he veered away toward the door. 

The Sith Lord laughed and said over his shoulder, “Unlike you guys, I have other work to do besides sitting around and joking.”

“And I’ll bet you envy us!” Ace barked with laughter.

“I sure do.”

Ace shook his head after Lord Vader had disappeared. “We really are just a bunch of jokers. You don’t want to take anything we say seriously unless we are serious when we say it.”

Luke smiled.

**1 Year before ESB:**

Luke settled in quickly, gaining the nickname Kid among the other pilots. He was there for the huge battle above Hoth and the one above Taris. He mourned with the others when Black Eight lost his life thanks to a suicide fighter for the Rebellion and was there when his replacement was found. He became one of the best of the best and all the while developed a friendship with Black Three, Four and Six. But he formed the tightest friendship with Black Three, who seemed to be a constant reminder of what he could be. 

He was a support that was desperately needed during the first few months and one that Luke depended on afterwards. When Luke turned twenty-one, he realized that he had been with the elite squadron for three years and his friends were now as tight as family. 

He understood them better than anybody, knew their quirks and weaknesses and helped them through rehabilitation and was the one to tell them that it wasn’t their lack of skill that had made them a target, but they had simply been chosen for testing.

The new Black Eight was his friend most of the time but had the tendency to be extremely dense on occasion. None of the other members really liked him and were surprised when he invaded their conversations.

“Four, Five, can I join?” He asked.

Luke brusquely answered, “Sit down and draw three cards.”

Eight glowered at him but complied. After a few turns, he looked straight at Luke and asked, “Why do you dislike me?”

“Why would you think I do?"

“You’re irritable with me all the time.”

“Guess what Eight? You’re right. I don’t like you. Never have, never will. You tend to be so dull that we don't even speak to you, you can’t take a suggestion to leave us alone and you can’t fly worth your own skin.”

Black Three was startled into looking at Luke, surprised at that outburst from the usually easy-going pilot.

Eight bit out, “At least I _like_ the Empire. Everything you do says you hate it.”

Luke shook his head in exasperation and said, “This is exactly what I’m talking about. If I didn’t like the Empire, I wouldn’t be a part of Death Squadron now would I? I just happen to hate the person who runs it!”

He slapped his cards down forcefully on the table and stormed off, incensed. He furiously headed toward the one place that he knew he could think in, the fighter bay.

 He collapsed against his fighter’s wing and started to swirl idly on his finger one of the tools used to repair the ship’s wing.

*

Black Three walked out of the rec. room in a hurry, moving at a swift pace toward the fighter bay. He had to talk to Luke, to find out what had caused that outburst.

Lord Vader asked him, “Where are you going?” 

 “To the fighter bay.”

 “Why?” Vader asked.

 “Let’s just say that Eight and Five had a rather heated conversation that ended with Five storming out. I just want to find out why he reacted the way he did.”

Lord Vader followed Black Three, even though the pilot had no idea that he was.

*

Black Three found Luke collapsed against his fighter’s wing, idly swinging a hydrospanner around his ring finger. He crouched and sat down, just waiting for Luke to speak.

Luke gave a hard little mocking laugh and said, “How long did it take you to guess where I’d gone, Targeter?”

“About two minutes,” Black Three said quietly.

Black Three remained silent for a long time and finally said, “Luke, why do you hate the Emperor?”

“Eight would have been dead.”

“What?”

“I said that Eight would have been dead. If it was about four years ago I’d have jumped up and pinned him against a wall hard enough to shatter his neck. I didn’t have the perfect temper and I still don’t. No one’s perfect."

“You’re avoiding my question. Why do you hate the Emperor?”

“He killed my mother and my sister. He told me that he’d be waiting for me, waiting for me to come to my death. He’ll find me and then I’ll be executed. I know it. I’ll bet your wondering why I don’t leave, to escape him. The reason why I don’t is because that’s what he wants me to do and I won’t do what he wants. I’ll just wait here and when he comes, I’ll go to my execution with head high, knowing that I lived longer than he’d wanted.”

Black Three sat still, stunned. What kind of a man would kill a woman and her daughter? Of course, he knew the answer. There was only one person who’d do that. The Emperor would.

Luke continued talking. “Isn’t it ironic that I serve the man who will eventually kill me? That I serve the Empire when the Empire wants me dead? That I stay here, knowing he wants to kill me? It isn’t to me. It makes total and complete sense.”

Black Three left the young pilot there, wandering around the ship. Luke’s words had brought to mind his own family. He had a wife and a son. He smiled, thinking of Jas, his darling son whom he’d left along with his mother to join the Empire’s struggle to bring peace.

 He remembered nights that he’d shared with his pregnant wife, nights when they’d spoken about their plans for the future, nights when they’d spoken about their hopes for Jas’s future. He barely remembered Jas’s birth and only remembered it at all because Lord Vader had released him for a while, saying that he needed to get away from his duties.

He wandered for a while, but was startled out of his thoughts when an excited young commander headed for a docking bay. When he asked the young man what he was so excited about, he said, “The Emperor is here. We are all called to the main docking bay.”

And so Black Three turned around and found the other pilots in the rec. room and Luke was back with them.

“Get up all of you. We are required to the main docking bay. Six, put on a clean shirt now.”

“What are we doing?” Four asked.

“We are welcoming the Emperor to the _Executor,_ ” Black Three said without looking at Luke.

* 

When Targeter said that dreaded order without looking at him, Luke smiled caustically and got into line. He went into his place between Four and Six and waited for the Emperor. Lord Vader walked between the long rows and dropped to one knee with his head bowed, as did the commanding Admiral and every one of the men in the docking bay snapped to a ready position at the same time with one deafening clap of their metal feet.

The Emperor disembarked and said to Lord Vader, “Rise my friend.”

Lord Vader got to his feet and said, “This is an unexpected pleasure, my master. What would bring you to my _Super_ Star Destroyer?”

“This young man here,” the Emperor said, stopping in front of Luke. 

“What would you require of me, Your Highness?” Luke recited something that he'd rehearsed for a long time.

“Nothing for the moment,” the Emperor said, a small, evil smile playing about his thin lips.

“Master, why would you be here for this young pilot?” Vader asked, confused.

“His execution is long overdue. I killed his mother and sister in a ship explosion and now I need to end the line with the son.”

Luke left, unable to stand it. He went back to the fighter pilot’s quarters and sat on his bed, head dropped and hands clasped in an interlocking pattern over his knees. Inside his head there was this mocking little thought racing around that he was going to die soon but strangely he felt at peace with the idea. 

He was still sitting there when the rest of the pilots got back. Black Three looked at him, sitting there with his shoulders hunched and a blank expression on his face.

There was silence for a long time and then it broke with the nervous chatter from the other pilots as they began a game of Sabacc. Their bets were outrageous, their boasts even more so but Targeter ignored them and went to the young pilot known fondly as Kid.

He sat across from Luke and watched him as his fingers traced a pattern over and over on his knee.

“I’m going to die Targeter. I know it. He’ll order me brought to my execution on some trumped-up charge like treason to validate it and he’ll kill me,” Luke looked up at Targeter and said quietly, “The fact that I hate is that he does it all because of who I am and who my mother was. He hates her, so he hates me.”

“Rest Luke. I’m going to join the others, but I don’t think that you should,” Targeter said to his young friend.

“No, I won’t,” he said with that bitter, mocking little laugh. “They’d be startled at my bitter attitude. I’ll just relax and sleep, like I’m not going to be executed at any time now.”

Black Three waited until he was sure that Five was asleep and then he wandered out the door toward the same simulation room that Luke had been tried in. Lord Vader was there and Black Three wasn’t surprised. He knew the Dark Lord’s moods better than anyone and knew that his old friend was thinking.

He walked into the simulation room and fired up one of them. He sat in it and replayed the extreme fight that he’d had with Luke, the one that had ended up with him dead in space. He couldn’t understand it, why a young man like Luke would gather so much hatred from the Emperor to grant a personal execution and knew that the day that he ordered Luke to be brought to him, Luke would be just as proud as he’d said he’d be.

He tried again and again to beat that scheme, but he couldn’t. Whatever he did, Luke’s computer beat him easily and without effort. Frustrated he got out and walked up to where Lord Vader stood silently looking out to space.

Two stormtroopers walked up to them and Lord Vader turned around and said, “Report.”

“You are required by the Emperor,” one of them said sharply.

“Fine.”

Lord Vader walked out and Black Three tried to figure out what was going on and finally he found it. Luke’s execution had been ordered and he was to be taken to the observation room.

Black Three ran fiercely toward the pilot’s quarters and found that he was too late. Four and Six had walked into the room and now Four said, “Get up Luke. We are to take you to the Emperor.”

Luke saw Targeter and said to him, “This is the day. But I feel at peace, because death will be better than life without my sister and mother. Goodbye Targeter. Before I die, I want to give you this,” with shaking hands Luke pulled a gold chain off from around his neck and gave it to Targeter. It had a pendant on it; a sapphire stone cut into a teardrop shape, framed in silver, opal and gold.

“Don’t let it fall into the Emperor’s hands,” he said hoarsely.

Targeter had recognized the pendant as one that Lord Vader had often worn before his fall on Mustafar and struck by shock he asked Luke, “Who gave this to you?”

“My mother Padmè Amidala. She said it belonged to my father, Anakin Skywalker,” he said with a sad smile.

Suddenly the Emperor’s hatred toward Luke was explained, as well as every extreme talent that Luke possessed. He was Lord Vader’s son and the Emperor was destroying his line so it would never continue.

Black Three backed away from Luke and bolted toward the observation room. He looked around and noticed Lord Vader was restrained in a small room far off the ground and he ran to the door and said breathlessly, “Let me in there.”

They obeyed without question and he asked Vader when he turned to Targeter, “Do you recognize this?” as he held up the pendant.

“That was mine,” Vader hissed softly. “Where did you find it?”

“Luke had it. He’s your son. His mother was Padmé Amidala and he said his father was Anakin Skywalker. He’s your son. That’s why Palpatine is going to kill him.”

Vader was furious, to put it lightly. He growled to Targeter, “Can we get out of here?”

“No. The door is locked. They are already bringing Luke here.”

Defeated, Lord Vader dropped into a chair. He muttered a few creative descriptions of the Emperor and Targeter stared. He’d never heard anything like the words that escaped the Dark Lord’s mouth.

Targeter moved to the window to watch for Luke and when he saw the proud and trembling figure of the young man, he whispered to Vader, “He’s here.”

The Dark Lord abandoned his creative curses and walked over to stand next to Targeter. The trembling figure was not trembling at the huge Imperial guards armed with force-pikes, nor the various types of stormtroopers. No, he was trembling at the eyes that had haunted his dreams for many years, the sickly yellow cat-eyes of the Emperor.

The sound came through and Vader listened.

“Welcome to your death, Skywalker.”

“Your highness,” Luke said proudly.

The Emperor motioned a man forward and as he walked closer to Luke, he removed a hypodermic needle from his sleeve. Luke didn’t know what was in that and he hated needles anyway. He twisted away from the man, bitter fear in his eyes.

“Oh that’s rich!” The Emperor laughed, a cruel, mocking noise. “You think I’d come all this way to just inject you with poison? That’s a paralyzing drug, so you can’t move away or bolt.”

He tried to twist away from the needle but his two Imperial Guards rooted him to the spot. The needle pierced his skin and he refused to watch the sedative as it was dispersed into his bloodstream.

It went through his system faster than he thought possible and the first noticeable effect was that he could barely stand on his own.

When the drug had taken full effect and Luke stood numbly still, Palpatine walked forward and said to him, “You know how your mother told you your father had fallen but wasn’t dead? It’s amusing to me that you’ve been serving on his squadron for some time now. You see, your father is none other than Lord Vader.”

Luke blinked a few times and tried to get some of the drug out of his system and he heard that with an ironic thought that he’d so often wished to be able to meet his father and he’d been working for him. He wondered if Lord Vader knew that the Emperor was putting his son to death and knew that he was probably somewhere in the room.

The Emperor stood back and said, “Now, young Skywalker, you will die.”

Force lightning erupted from the old man’s fingers and Luke collapsed at the first bolt as he lost his balance. It was excruciating, the feeling of his bones and blood vessels on fire like a living thing. He screamed after a few seconds, as the extreme pain became more than he could bear. He screamed his throat raw and finally Palpatine stopped. He stood for a few seconds and watched as the young man’s strength left him and Palpatine left, knowing that Luke would die before he could get help.

Lord Vader noticed the door was open and that Targeter was gone. He looked out the window and saw Black Three down on his knees by Luke, trying to ease his pain.

He started to walk down and then abandoned dignity and jogged out the door.

*

“Targeter,” Luke whispered; his throat raw from the screams that had contorted his body, leaving him shaking and haggard.

Black Three picked up Luke’s head and placed it on his lap, trying to ease the young man’s agony. Why such a young friend had to be removed of a promising life was anyone’s guess, Targeter only knew that if anyone said anything bad about Black Five, he’d kill them. 

He heard the footsteps before Luke did and looked up. He knew he’d find Lord Vader, he had heard the Dark Lord follow him. He looked into his friend’s eyes behind the mask, troubled.

*

It was total agony for Luke to open his eyes again but he did. He saw his father standing and looking at Targeter and gave a halfhearted smile. Lord Vader had always been a figure he’d looked up to and now he said to his father, “I’m glad I knew you before now.”

The young man’s eyes closed for the last time.

** Epilogue: **

Targeter never let any other pilot take the call name Black Five. He soon retired and just became the recruiting officer. He never met anyone else quite like the young man known as Kid.

Lord Vader kept all of Luke’s achievements in his office and a holographic picture of the young pilot was on the wall behind his desk.

Luke was given a send off funeral; he was placed in a casket and sent off into the suns of Tatooine.

Nobody who’d met Luke Skywalker ever forgot him.


End file.
